How The Cult Of The Tech Entrepreneur Is Turning Marketing Upside Down

This article is by John Ounpuu, partner, Modern Craft, a digital-strategy agency.

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You’d think being the NBA MVP two years running would be enough. But apparently not. Steph Curry—arguably the most gifted shooter in NBA history—is also the co-owner of not one but two tech startups.

We live in the age of the entrepreneur. Once there was a time when everyone aspired to be a rock star, movie star or professional athlete. But these days, rock stars, movie stars and professional athletes aspire to be tech entrepreneurs. We all know the archetypal story. Brilliant opportunist peers around corners, sees a future no one else does, places a big risky bet on it and ends up changing the world. And, of course, becomes a billionaire in the process.

Marketers—who are trained to be hyper-aware of trends—know the story especially well. It stands to reason, then, that such a pervasive cultural narrative must have seeped into the way we think and work. But how? More to the point, is the sheer power of this idea helping or hurting marketing? The answer, I believe, is…both.

Let’s look at the positives first. Modern marketers are more willing than ever to try new things, take risks and experiment. Especially in the realm of emerging technology. And they’ve learned to work at “internet speed”—moving beyond traditional planning cycles to nimbly react to cultural events. Some brands have embraced design thinking and shifted spend away from advertising and toward the creation of useful services that meet customer needs. And many have embraced the power of data and measurement—both to fuel ongoing optimization and to deliver a more relevant, personal experience to customers.

All of this is positive. But there’s also a dark side to this love affair with the entrepreneurial ideal. First off, marketers’ hunger for new tech has clearly gotten out of hand—sparking a marketing tech gold rush that has outstripped the bounds of reason. According to chiefmartec.com there are now more than 3,500 hundred technology companies serving marketers. Five years earlier, in 2011, the total was closer to 100.

Some of this technology is very useful. But the martech boom has a clear downside too. An avalanche of new tech in the online ad space—for example—has created chaos on multiple fronts. More and more consumers are turning to ad blockers to stem the tide of aggressive ads. Ad fraud is growing into a multi-billion-dollar problem. And media agencies are facing serious accusations of unethical practices related to new tech.

Beyond ad tech, the passion for new things—coupled with an increased appetite for entrepreneur-style risk—has resulted in a rising tide of wasteful spending on “bright shiny objects” with limited business impact. This trend shows no signs of slowing (VR anyone?).

One upshot of this love affair with tech entrepreneurs is most visible in what marketers aren’t doing. An obsession with opportunism has led to a drop in longer-term thinking. Strategy has fallen out of fashion. Some now see it as the opposite of the entrepreneurial idea—time-consuming in an era when everyone’s trying move fast, keep up and look around corners.

With all of this is mind, here are a few suggestions for channeling your inner Zuck and unlocking the benefits of an entrepreneurial mindset while avoiding the related pitfalls:

• Obsess about customer needs. Today’s most successful startups fixate on customer needs religiously in order limit wasted effort and keep themselves focused on what matters most. Follow this example by letting insights into real behaviors and needs guide you to the most impactful tactics and tech—instead of the next bright shiny object.

• Don’t just act, experiment. And by experiment, I don’t simply mean “try it and see what happens.” Proper experiments are about the rigorous testing of specific hypotheses. And they’re also baked into the way the most successful modern entrepreneurs work.

• Put limits on bold bets. For many years, Google famously followed the 80/20 rule. Employees could spend a fifth of their time on blue sky projects, as long as they spent the rest of their time on core products. Follow this example and put some clear caps on the resources allocated to entrepreneurial experiments.

• Strive for balance between thinking and doing. Strategy doesn’t have to get in the way of your entrepreneurial spirit. Done right, it can help you hone in on the best opportunities and take smarter risks. As Harvard don David Collis puts it: “Strategy without entrepreneurship is central planning. Entrepreneurship without strategy leads to chaos.”

• Fear the easy path. Entrepreneurship is many things, but easy isn’t one of them. Embracing the entrepreneurial spirit isn’t about about copycatting, bandwagon-jumping or chasing silver bullets. Instead, it’s about taking bold but calculated risks to create meet real needs and solve real problems. Adopt this mindset and your entrepreneurial urges are bound to bear fruit.

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